| “Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ” |
| —Romans 7:21 |
No one enjoys learning that he or she has come under condemnation. Even when we’ve done something wrong and deserve to be condemned, we don’t like it. Sometimes it is all the more perplexing when we truly intended to do the right thing, but immediately find ourselves doing the exact opposite of what we intended to do.
Fortunately, we’re not alone in our self-disgust. A spiritual giant, none other than the Apostle Paul, had the very same experience. He records his frustration in Romans 7:21-25 and 8:1-2:
So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
We should draw comfort from knowing that the Apostle is just like you and me. He daily faced the same kind of circumstances that we face.
Once we acknowledge the salvation that God has given us, through the atoning sacrifice of His Son, we are free from condemnation. Oh yes, we are still sinners. We will retain our sin nature that we inherited from Adam until we pass from this life. But, we now have the indwelling Presence of the Holy Spirit to help us overcome our bent toward sin.
Let’s rejoice that, because of Jesus, we are “condemnation free”!
Based on a post from Wednesday, March 18, 2015
